Helaine Smith DMD

NY Times reporter Sarah Bowen Shea wrote an informative piece last week, A Device to De-Stress Your Workout, about performance mouthpieces. You may have heard of professional or elite athletes who swear that these devices improve their performance.

Unlike the regular mouthguards you buy for your son or daughter at the sporting goods store and then boil, performance mouthpieces are custom-made by dentists — and they cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Currently, two companies provide the performance mouthpiece technology: Makkar, a Canadian company, and Under Armour.

Developed by a Las Vegas Institute (LVI) dentist, Anil Makkar, the performance mouthpiece technology is based on neuromuscular dentistry and the theory that if you align your jaw and open it up slightly you have more strength.

As the NY Times article shows, many athletes now use these devices as they do enhance performance.

You can see for yourself how the theory works.

Get a partner and have this person push your arm or arms down from an upright position. You should lose your balance and not be able to keep your arm in an upright position.

Now put a pen in your mouth sideways and bite down it. Lift your arm again — your partner should not be able to push your arms down. Amazing, yes?

You can see Columbus NBC News’ video demonstration of how this works.

This video shows the Monday Night Football announcers talking about the Saints and their increased performance due to performance mouthpieces.